Kill Me, Kiss Me

Christmas Special!

Shoes scuffed the ground roughly, "Still nothing."

A deep, hollow silence grasped the group as their breathing caught and stilled. In its midst, the shrill trailing wail of a connecting phone call rose up to the roof. Beep- Beep- Beep- The expected monotone female voice did not drone through the speakers, instead from deep within the warehouse came the laboured cry of 'Moonlight sonata'.

Almost instantaneously, Theo was dragged onto his feet, and the cold gleam of guns met the cold air.

"Quick!"

He was yanked backwards towards the steel doors with the throng of men, all with their guns drawn and pointing towards the depths of the cavern.

"No answer from Mark." A supressed shout came from the edge of the squad.

"Evacuate!"

At this, Theo was nearly dragged off his feet, his left heel skidding across the floor, leaving a rough white line through the grime. The collar of his shirt bit into his neck, and he gagged, trying to lighten the force digging into the soft skin below his adam's apple. No use. His arms could not get free of their ropes. He gasped for air, raising his face to the ceiling-

"Where do you think you're going?" A cold yet harmonious voice pierced through the disturbed air.

Theo's collar sagged. All movement stopped. No one seemed to even breathe. It was like the silence after a gun shot. From the corner of his vision he saw the paling complexions of the men next to him. Their fingers trembled as they held their guns level out in front of them.

His throat dried. They looked as if they'd seen hell in that single melodious phrase.

The crisp clack of leather shoes against concrete radiated louder and louder, and from within the darkness first came two elegantly pointed black leather oxfords, followed by long, straight legs clad in black suit pants, and the brilliance of a white shirt splattered in red. Each powerful stride pieced together more of the whole: the long tapered fingers hanging loosely by his side, the collar of his shirt unbuttoned carelessly, the shock of silky black hair spilling down the front of his right shoulder. His face.

His face.

The breath caught in Theo's throat.

It seized his eyes and forced itself into every synapses of his brain. It was not so much the man's extraordinary beauty, he was handsome yes, more so than anyone he'd seen, but it was irrelevant under the gravity and grace of the man's bearing. No, it was the way in the which the man's dark eyes cut into him, stuck into him, and refused to be pulled out again like an axe in wood, that forced the breath out of his lungs. He relived the strength of that stare again and again.

Run.

Theo's chest heaved, breath panting out in white tendrils.

Run or become ensnared.

He tipped forwards, his knee softened, and before he knew it, his left knee hit the hard concrete again. The dull thud thundered through the silent space, magnifying almost in volume with every second passed. Instantly the man's razor gaze slashed back towards him and... remained. Theo's breath stuck in his throat.

Baited, ensnared, devoured.

The man's gaze slowly moved down his face, his body, razing each stretch and sag of his shirt, his pants, eyes lingering on his groin. The heat of the man's gaze burnt so hot, Theo could not decipher whether he was charring or freezing. Tilting his head ever so slightly to the right, the man's eyebrows rose subtly, and after a lapse, the corner of his thin lips curled cruelly.